Metal cut (?), 152 x 152 mm. Fine impression on laid paper, rubricated Latin text verso, trimmed on or outside the borderline. Apparently a close and early copy of the cut in the Verdun Missal, Paris, Jean Dupré, 1481. Hyatt-Mayor (Prints and People) mentions that the cut, famous in its time, was reprinted and copied. He also mentions that the original is known to have been cut on copper, rather than wood, and one might surmise that this copy was also done as a metal cut, as much of the detailed line work seems too fine to have been accomplished in wood. The composition is exactly the same, but details – facial expressions, ornamentation – are slightly different. The subject first appeared in art in the Middle Ages. It shows Pope Gregory I (ca. 540-604) saying mass, as a vision of Christ as the Man of Sorrows appears on the altar in response to his prayer for a sign to convince a doubter of the miracle of transubstantiation.